Stahl Headers

[Hemi Moose]

Originally Posted by Dan Bennett

I thought I saw a notice posted by Jere that he was no longer selling completed headers but was selling the parts that would need to be welded.

For those who never dealt with Stahl, rest assured that you didn't just call him up and order some headers for your car. He would insist on massive information including head specs, camshaft events, and almost every facet of your set up. Only then would he build a set of headers and they would be specific to your car, engine, and program.

I had the occasion to work with Jere some years back on a Pro Stock R&D project. There isn't enough bandwidth on the internet to properly explain the guy.

We would have hour long conversations where I struggled to keep up with his thoughts. It was almost like listening to a foreign language in that you'd grasp a bit here and there and try to put it all together. He uses a lot of science and physics to approach any problem and doesn't settle for "conventional wisdom".

I don't think he gets the credit due for being a true pioneer of the sport. He invented so many things we take for granted. At that time, in that area, we had some genuises at play. Think of Stahl, Jenkins, Moroso, Stiles - the list goes on.

If I'm not mistaken Jere was the first to use low pressure in the rear tires, adjustable collectors, bead screws, and was involved in the development of slapper bars. His refusal to accept "good enough" led to his legendary front tires and cable-driven tach among other items.

He was in a quest to qualify dynos, being tired of finding results that didn't reflect better performance on the track. He alone was responsible for a major step forward in getting repeatable and valid numbers. His emphasis on accurate measurement got him looking into data acquisition and he was one of the few who understood my insistence on much higher sampling rates than was available at that time.

As an example of his attention to detail, while working with dirt car engines he actually modified his dyno so that the engine could tilt to mimic the car going through a turn.

He's an unusual person to say the least, but he's one of a handful of people that really influenced my thinking and methods.

That's a nice write up about Jere Stahl...sounds like a guy ahead of his time.